"Osiris, the Egyptian Saviour, was crucified in the heavens. To the
Egyptian the cross was the symbol of immortality, an emblem of the Sun,
and the god himself was crucified to the tree, which denoted his
fructifying power.

"Horus was also
crucified in the heavens. He was represented, like...Christ Jesus, with
outstretched arms in the vault of heaven."

Thomas W. Doane,
Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions (484)

In my book
Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection, I delve deeply into various
parallels between the Jewish godman Jesus Christ and the Egyptian gods
Horus and Osiris. Along with the claim that Horus was born on "December
25th" or the winter solstice of a virgin called Mery comes the
contention that he was "crucified between two thieves," as Jesus is
depicted to have been in the New Testament. Although I included this
motif in my book The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold,
this assertion does not originate with me but can be found in older
sources, as highlighted in Christ in Egypt ("CIE"), which contains a
40-page chapter on the subject entitled "Was Horus 'Crucified?,'" with
120 footnotes citing primary sources as well as the works of respected
Egyptologists and other scholars in relevant fields. This chapter in CIE
also provides 18 images to illustrate the various points, such as the
abundance of Pagan gods and goddesses in cruciform or cross shapes.

The list of
sources cited in the chapter "Was Horus 'Crucified?'" includes: ancient
Egyptian primary sources such as the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book
of the Dead and other artifacts; the writings of the ancient historians
Herodotus and Plutarch, philosophers Plato and Philo, and the Egyptian
priest Horapollo; the Bible; noncanonical early Christian writings such
as the Epistle of Barnabas, Acts of John and Acts of Pilate; the
writings of early Church fathers Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Minucius
Felix; Gnostic writings; Coptic writings such as the Kebra Nagast; the
Catholic Encyclopedia; the works of modern Egyptologists Drs. Erik
Hornung, Raymond O. Faulkner, Jan Assman and Barbara S. Lesko; and the
works of various theologians, historians and other professional scholars
such as Pope Benedict XVI, Jean Doresse, Joseph Campbell, Dr. Roger Beck
and Dr. Tryggve N.D. Mettinger.

Even with all of
the scholarship put together in Christ in Egypt, there remains much
confusion concerning this subject, because many people erroneously
believe that the contention is that Horus or Osiris were killed via
crucifixion, as allegedly happened to Jesus. In actuality, the most
common myths concerning the deaths of Osiris and Horus are that the
former was rent into pieces, while the latter was stung by a scorpion,
after which both were resurrected. In this regard, the same Greek word
used by historian Diodorus Siculus in the first century BCE to describe
Horus's resurrection—anastasis—is utilized by later biblical writers in
the New Testament to depict Christ's resurrection (e.g., Mt 22:23).

Testimony of the Church Fathers

It needs to be
emphasized that the claim is not that Horus was a human being thrown to
the ground and nailed to a piece of wood. In CIE, I discuss the
etymology of the word "crucify," which comes from the Latin crucifigere,
composed of cruci/crux and affigere/figere, meaning "cross" and "to
fix/affix," respectively. Crucifigere and its English derivation "to
crucify" mean "to fix to a cross," but not necessarily to throw down and
nail to a piece of wood. What we are interested in, then, is whether or
not pre-Christian gods and goddesses were depicted as fixed to a cross
or in cruciform, appearing as a crucifix. TertullianThis motif of a
pre-Christian or non-Christian god or man on a cross or cross-shaped is
expounded upon by the Church fathers Tertullian (c. 160-c. 200) and
Minucius Felix (2nd-3rd cents.). In his Apology (16), Tertullian
remarks:

"We have shown
before that your deities are derived from shapes modelled from the
cross. But you also worship victories, for in your trophies the cross is
the heart of the trophy. The camp religion of the Romans is all through
a worship of the standards, a setting the standards above all gods.
Well, as those images decking out the standards are ornaments of
crosses. All those hangings of your standards and banners are robes of
crosses." (Roberts, ANCL, 85)

The place where
Tertullian had "shown before" his contentions about the Pagan gods being
cross-shaped was in his work Ad Nationes (12), in a lengthy treatise
which includes the following remarks:

"...The Heathens
Themselves Made Much of Crosses in Sacred Things; Nay, Their Very Idols
Were Formed on a Crucial [Crosslike] Frame.

"...your gods in
their origin have proceeded from this hated cross... if you simply place
a man with his arms and hands outstretched, you will make the general
outline of a cross...." (Roberts, ANF, III, 122)

"...The
Egyptians certainly choose out a man for themselves whom they may
worship... Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for. You,
indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as
parts of your gods. For your very standards, as well as your banners,
and flags of your camp, what else are they but crosses gilded and
adorned? Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a
simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it." (Roberts, ANF, IV,
191)

In the same
passage, Minucius states, "...crucis signum est, et cum homo porrectis
manibus deum pura mente veneratur." (Felix, 66) To wit, "...the sign of
the cross it is, also when a man stretching out his hands venerates God
with a pure mind."

Justin MartyrIn
his First Apology Church father Justin Martyr (c. 150) writes:

"Chapter 21.
Analogies to the history of Christ.

"And when we say
also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without
sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and
died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing
different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of
Jupiter..." (Roberts, ANF, I, 170)

It is evident
that the Church fathers did not perceive the configuration of Christ on
the cross to be anything unusual. Indeed, they insisted that the Pagans
likewise worshipped gods on crosses or in "crucial frame," as Tertullian
styles it. With such surprising declarations from early Christian
authorities, we are justified in asking which of the "sons of Jupiter,"
i.e., the Greek and Roman gods, was thus depicted as "crucified?" What
we discover is that both the cross and a deity or man on a cross were
common sacred motifs long before the Christian era. In reality, there
were many depictions of Pagan gods and goddesses in cruciform or in
cross shape, with arms outstretched, a motif considered by the Church
fathers to represent the "sign of the cross," such as concerns Moses,
for example, at Exodus 17:11. Cross posture in the Christian
catacombsRegarding the repeated statements and reports about the
reverential crosslike pose or "cruciform posture" by the Church fathers
and elsewhere in Christendom, Rev. William W. Seymour remarks:

"Examples of
this posture in prayer are found in the Catacombs....

Greco-Egyptian
cross posture with Horus hawk"We find that the ancient Egyptians used
this posture in prayer, as is figured in the hieroglyphics on the
obelisk before the Church of S. John Lateran at Rome. This also was the
custom of the Romans... The Hebrews spread forth their hands before the
Lord; in short, this posture in devotion we believe may be traced the
world over..." (Seymour, 432-433)

In reality,
non-Christian gods were represented in cruciform centuries before Christ
was portrayed likewise; in fact, the first depiction of Jesus on a cross
in art did not occur until the fifth century AD/CE. As stated by the
Catholic Encyclopedia ("Cross and the Crucifix"):

"The sign of the
cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at
right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the
introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of
human civilization....

Cruciform with
crucifix around neck, Cyprus, chalcolithic"...It is also...a symbol of
the sun...and seems to denote its daily rotation.... Cruciform objects
have been found in Assyria. Shari people in Egypt wearing crucifixes
around their necksThe statutes of Kings Asurnazirpal and Sansirauman,
now in the British Museum, have cruciform jewels about the neck....
Cruciform earrings were found by Father Delattre in Punic tombs at
Carthage.

"Another symbol
which has been connected with the cross is the ansated cross (ankh or
crux ansata) of the ancient Egyptians.... From the earliest times also
it appears among the hieroglyphic signs symbolic of life or of the
living... perhaps it was originally, like the swastika, an astronomical
sign. The ansated cross is found on many and various monuments of
Egypt.... In later times the Egyptian Christians (Copts), attracted by
its form, and perhaps by its symbolism, adopted it as the emblem of the
cross...

Etruscan ossuary
vases with crosses on bottom"...In the proto-Etruscan cemetery of
Golasecca every tomb has a vase with a cross engraved on it....

Prometheus
chained in cross shape or cruciform"...On an ancient vase we see
Prometheus bound to a beam which serves the purpose of a cross.... In
the same way the rock to which Andromeda was fastened is called crux, or
cross....

Andromeda
chained in a cross shape or crucifix"...The Christian apologists, such
as Tertullian (Apol., xvi; Ad. Nationes, xii) and Minucius Felix (Octavius,
lx, xii, xxviii), felicitously replied to the pagan taunt by showing
that their persecutors themselves adored cruciform objects. Such
observations throw light on a peculiar fact of primitive Christian life,
i.e. the almost total absence from Christian monuments of the period of
persecutions of the plain, unadorned cross...

"...The early
years of the fifth century are of the highest importance in this
development, because it was then that the undisguised cross first
appears.... But the fifth century marks the period when Christian art
broke away from old fears, and, secure in its triumph, displayed before
the world, now become Christian also, the sign of its redemption....

"...The most
ancient text we have relating to a carved cross dates from later than
A.D. 362....

Early Christian
crucifix"...Although in the fifth century the cross began to appear on
public monuments, it was not for a century afterwards that the figure on
the cross was shown; and not until the close of the fifth, or even the
middle of the sixth century, did it appear without disguise...." (CE,
IV, 517ff)

In its article
entitled "Images," the Catholic Encyclopedia relates:

Crucifix from
Santa Sabina Church, Rome, 5th century"...The first mentions of
[Christian] crucifixes are in the sixth century.... The oldest
crucifixes known are those on the wooden doors of St. Sabina at Rome and
an ivory carving in the British Museum... Both are of the fifth
century...." (CE, VII, 667)

As we can see,
the cross was a sacred symbol, and cruciform objects were worn
Prometheus on stauros or crossaround the neck, long before the Christian
era. One such cruciform figurine with a crucifix around its neck from
Cyprus dates to the Chalcolithic Age (3900-2500 BCE). On a vase dating
from around 350 BCE, we find a tortured Greek god Prometheus chained in
cruciform, while another vase dating to the late sixth to early seventh
centuries BCE depicts Prometheus on a stake or stauros, as the term is
in Greek - the same word used in the New Testament to describe Christ's
cross. Moreover, the mythical princess Andromeda too was portrayed
essentially as having been crucified, as demonstrated by an image from
Pompeii, which was destroyed in 79 AD/CE, several centuries before
Christ was depicted on the cross in art. So too was the Egyptian cross
or ankh a prevalent sacred symbol for millennia prior to the common era,
being adopted as well by Egyptian Christians or Copts.

Horus and the Cross

In this regard,
Osiris and Horus both were associated with and/or identified as a cross,
such as the ankh, which, like the cross of Jesus, represents eternal
life. Horus with the ankh/cross raising OsirisHorus is identified with
the cross in several ways, using the ankh, for instance, to raise Osiris
from the dead. Providing an example of the Church fathers' contention
about gods with arms outstretched making the sign of the cross or being
in "crucial frame," i.e., cruciform, Egyptologist Dr. Erik Hornung
discusses Horus as the hawk "whose wings span the sky" (CGAE, 124) and
"the ancient god of the heavens, whose wings spread over the whole
earth" (VK, 59). Winged goddess (Isis) on King Tut's sarcophagusWe find
several other Egyptian gods and goddesses in this same cruciform pose,
with arms and wings outstretched, including in tombs and on numerous
coffins, serving as protection and assistance for a smooth passage into
the afterlife, the same role as the cross on Christian coffins. Again,
the early Christians considered figures with arms outstretched to be
making the sign of the cross, and they compared Pagan gods in cruciform
to Christ on the cross.

Horus with his
arms outstretched making the sign of the crossHorus as the hawk with his
wings or arms outstretched reflects his role as the sun god "crossing
over" the sky, as depicted in various hymns and Coffin Texts. As I say
in Christ in Egypt (342), the significance of asserting the sun god to
be "crucified" is not that his myth is imitated exactly in the gospel
story but that he was a revered pre-Christian god "on a cross" and that
this particular motif was adopted by those who created the Christian
myth specifically because it was a popular and venerated theme.

Moreover, in
Christ in Egypt, I include an extensive discussion of a mysterious
Egypto-Gnostic character named Horos, essentially the same name as "Horus"
in Greek, although the two words are spelled slightly differently, the
former with an omega and the latter with an omicron. Nevertheless, there
is reason to suppose that the Gnostic figure of Horos and the Egyptian
god Horus are at root one and the same. The Gnostic Horos not only is
associated with but is also identified as "Stauros"—the Cross—again, the
same Greek word used in the gospels to describe what Jesus was
purportedly crucified upon. Indeed, in Christian writings Jesus is
"often assimilated" to Horos-Stauros.

In describing
the Gnostic character of Horos-Stauros, the Encyclopedia Britannica ("Valentinus")
relates:

"A figure
entirely peculiar to Valentinian Gnosticism is that of Horos (the
Limiter). The name is perhaps an echo of the Egyptian Horus. The
peculiar task of Horos is to separate the fallen aeons from the upper
world of aeons. At the same time he becomes...a kind of world-creative
power.... He is also called, curiously enough, Stauros (cross), and we
frequently meet with references to the figure of Stauros. But we must
not be in too great a hurry to conjecture that this is a Christian
figure. Speculations about the Stauros are older than Christianity, and
a Platonic conception may have been at work here. Plato had already
stated that the world-soul revealed itself in the form of the letter Chi
(X); by which he meant that figure described in the heavens by the
intersecting orbits of the sun and the planetary ecliptic. Since through
this double orbit all the movements of the heavenly powers are
determined, so all "becoming" and all life depend on it, and thus we can
understand the statement that the world-soul appears in the form of an
X, or a cross. The cross can also stand for the wondrous aeon on whom
depends the ordering and life of the world, and thus Horos-Stauros
appears here as the first redeemer of Sophia from her passions, and as
the orderer of the creation of the world which now begins. This
explanation of Horos, moreover, is not a mere conjecture, but one branch
of the Valentinian school, the Marcosians, have expressedly so explained
this figure.... Naturally, then, the figure of Horos-Stauros was often
in later days assimilated to that of the Christian Redeemer. (EB, 854 [Emph.
added])

Plato's world
soul as cross impressed upon spaceHere we read that the name Horos is
"perhaps an echo of the Egyptian Horus" and that "speculations about the
Stauros are older than Christianity." We further learn that the ancient
writer Plato (429-347 BCE) had described the "world-soul" in the shape
of an X or cross and that this concept also represented the orbits of
the sun and earth's ecliptic intersecting. Again, this Gnostic
Horos-Stauros character with pre-Christian roots was so similar to the
Christ figure that the two were frequently combined.

Plato's World Soul and Just Man
Crucified

In his role as the sun crossing
over the sky and as the apparent origin of the Horos-Stauros character,
Horus has been compared to Plato's world-soul impressed upon a cross in
the heavens, as found in the Timaeus (36bc). (Plato, 49) This Platonic
figure in turn was commonly taken to be a "foreshadowing" of the Christ
character and cross. As theologian Rev. Dr. Hugo Rahner states:

"...Adapting an old Pythagorean
notion, Plato had written in the Timaeus of the world soul revealed in
the celestial X; to the early Christian this was a pagan imitation of
the world-building crucified Logos who encompasses the cosmos and causes
it to revolve around the mystery of the Cross." (Campbell, 372)

PlatoOne of these early
Christians who saw the Cross and Son of God revealed in Plato's writing
was Justin Martyr, who in his First Apology (60.1), in a section
entitled "Plato's Doctrine of the Cross," remarked:

"And the physiological
discussion concerning the Son of God in the Timæus of Plato, where he
says, 'He placed him crosswise in the universe," he borrowed in like
manner from Moses...'" (Roberts, ANF, I, 183; Justin/Gildersleeve, 55)

Commenting on this
interpretation, Dr. Eric Francis Osborn states, "The supremacy of divine
love in creation leads Justin to attribute to Plato the concept of the
cosmic cross." (Osborn, 51) Moses raising the bronze/brazen
serpent/snake as "sign of the cross"Justin's remark about Moses being
the originator of the cosmic cross comes from the early Church fathers'
interpretation of Numbers 21:6-9, in which Moses is said to raise up a
bronze serpent, asserted to be a "type of cross." In consideration of
the debate as to Moses's historicity and when exactly the Old Testament
texts were written down first, the contention that the biblical writers
possessed these or other spiritual notions before other cultures is
unfounded, particularly in view of the antiquity of the Egyptian
civilization and the abundance of spiritual concepts there.

In any event, centuries before
the common era Plato also discussed a "just man" who is "crucified"
(Republic 361d), as related by Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger):

"...according to Plato the truly
just man must be misunderstood and persecuted in this world; indeed,
Plato goes so far as to write: 'They will say that our just man will be
scourged, racked, fettered, will have his eyes burned out, and at last,
after all manner of suffering will be crucified.' This passage, written
four hundred years before Christ, is always bound to move a Christian
deeply." (Ratzinger, 353)

The Pope uses the translation of
Plato by Dr. A.D. Lindsay, who specifically renders the Greek as
"crucified" in describing the fate of the "just man." This Platonic
passage, in fact, much resembles that found at Isaiah 53:4-1 and, along
with that OT "messianic prophecy," likely was used as a blueprint in the
creation of the Christ character. Again, in Platonic philosophy, the
"world soul" or "divine Son of God," as Justin interprets it, is
impressed upon a cross in the vault of heaven, representing, as we have
seen, the sun crossing over the ecliptic, which was likewise the role
not only of Horus in transit across the sky but also of the Gnostic
Horos-Stauros, another "cosmic cross."

Osiris and the Djed Pillar

Jesus on the
cross with the three MarysOsiris on and as the djed pillar/cross & ankh
with the two MertiAs a Platonic ideal, the cosmic cross/stauros precedes
the Christian era by centuries; yet, the cross supposedly only gained
significance with Jesus's alleged death upon it. In fact, the cross's
purpose as bestower of salvation and eternal life already existed as a
spiritual concept long before the common era, in Egypt for one. Indeed,
Osiris's depiction on or as the djed pillar - surrounded by the two
sisters or "the Merti" (Budge, 429), much like Christ on the cross with
the three Marys at his feet (Jn 19:25)—served as "sin removal," as
related in Christ in Egypt (351):

"...the erection
of the djed cross during the celebration also apparently took the place
of human sacrifice, which was designed to propitiate the god or God in
order to remove sins and bring about continuity of the community as a
whole."

Archangel
Michael holding djed crossThe correlation between Osiris's pillar and
the cross of Jesus was obvious enough to the Egyptian Christians or
Copts for them to depict Archangel Michael, for example, holding a "djed
cross" in his right hand.

As further
stated in CIE (365), in addition to pre-Christian texts depicting the
"crucified man in space," we also possess various Egypto-Christian
artifacts connecting Jesus with both Osiris and Horus, including Gnostic
gems. As another example, in Ancient Christian Mage: Coptic Texts of
Ritual Power, Drs. Marvin W. Meyer and Richard Smith report on a
crucifix in the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo "with the crucified figure of
Jesus together with a falcon (Horus)." This artifact demonstrates that
identifying Horus with the crucified Jesus occurred even in antiquity.

As revealed in
my books Christ in Egypt and Suns of God, there is much more to the
subject of Pagan gods and goddesses on a cross or in cruciform, serving
as crucifixes. The images and descriptions of deities in cruciform
include Osiris, Isis and Horus, and the answer to the question of
whether or not Horus was ever associated with the cross and depicted on
a cross or in cruciform must be a resounding yes. If other gods were
shown on a cross or in cruciform, or associated otherwise with a sacred
cross, then Christ's depiction on a cross is not unique. If the Pagan
personified savior-cross existed first, the whole notion of Christ's
redeeming power through the cross becomes derivative. Rather than
representing "history," it is more probable that Christ's "crucifixion"
constitutes a mythical motif created in order to associate him with the
already revered cross and image of a divine figure in cruciform. We must
therefore conclude that the figure of Christ on a cross or in the shape
of a cross is a johnny-come-lately in the world of religious
iconography, and the story of the crucifixion appears more likely a
contrivance based on this important imagery, as well as on Jewish
"messianic prophecies" or blueprints, instead of an improbable
"historical" tale. Indeed, the crucifixion reveals itself to be another
pre-Christian mythical motif with a largely astrotheological meaning.

Along with this
interesting evidence concerning the profound importance of the sacred
cross in pre-Christian religion, as well as its association and
identification with Egyptian gods, we find another "Christian" motif in
Egypt, with Horus represented on the cross at the vernal equinox between
two "thieves" in a pre-Christian artifact. For much more information on
this fascinating subject, see Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus
Connection.

Seymour, William Wood, The Cross
in Tradition, History and Art, G.P. Putnam's Sons, NY/London, 1898.

Sharpe, Samuel, Egyptian
Antiquities in the British Museum, John Russell Smith, London, 1862.

Wilkinson, J. Gardner, The
Manner and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, I, John Murray, London,
1847.

*

*

I've
communicated with D.M. Murdoch a.k.a. Acharya once. Tried to again
several times but once I professed my Christian faith to her and
questioned her conclusions about Judeo-Christian theology being the work
of cynical priesthood manipulators, she stopped talking to me. In fact,
on her blog and forum I was banned from posting. Her research does
resonate with me if not her conclusions because I too have been led to
the Egyptian Connection as well as the astrological connections which
began with Egypt. My Egyptian connection started back in 1964 when a
Christian psychic predicted that Egypt would become "very important in
my life" and it did but it took 15 years to manifest. After performing
the Baptist role semi-unconsciously with the Paxcalibur sanctification
baptism rituals, I do owe it to Acharya to bring the full astrological
meaning to my conscious mind allowing me to know what I was doing in my
Anubis-Baptist-Messenger role in the Vision of Christ Josephine.

Christmas,
Christ's Birthday, December 25th, 2015 Update: Acharya Sanning a.k.a.
D.M. Murdock has passed away and that's a shame because she was
spearheading new momentum in de-mythicising Abrahamic religious texts to
get to core universally shared symbolism not acknowledged in Abrahamic
faiths. I hope my own additions to astrological interpretation of
Scriptures turns the overzealous sun-god interpretations of Christ
towards Jewish Celestial Tauret Messianic symbolism that shows the
spiritual reason why Judeo-Christianity was different with its
Saturn/Aquarius spiritual foundation from the ancient sun god, grain god
Mystery Religions.